


what's a soulmate?

by halfshook



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, child prodigies au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 05:05:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17933402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfshook/pseuds/halfshook
Summary: Three conservations about soulmates and a self-confession later and Jisung was beginning to realise maybe he was habouring a crush on his best friend.





	what's a soulmate?

“What is a soulmate?” Chenle asked, loud enough for Jisung to hear, although not necessarily intentionally.

“What?” Jisung spluttered out, trying not to blush. He felt his cheeks growing hotter, a hint of a blush pinking his skin.

“Oh, my bad. I didn’t realise I was thinking out loud. But, seeing as you heard my question, what are your thoughts?” Chenle replied, his cheeks also tinged slightly pink.

“Chenle. As much as I would love to discuss this with you right now. It’s 2 a.m and we have to be up at 6. Let’s continue in the morning?” He replied, turning over and pulling his duvet right up to his chest.

“I guess you’re right. Good night Jisung, sweet dreams.” Jisung could hear the smile in Chenle’s voice, followed by him also turning over and pulling his duvet over his entire body.

“Good night _Lele_.”

 

Sunlight streamed through the Venetian blinds covering the large arched windows. Their joint alarms blared simultaneously, blaring out Hannah Montana’s ‘The Best of Both Worlds’, loud enough for the entire corridor to hear but not loud enough to wake Chenle.

Jisung pulled himself out of bed, walked over to Chenle and shook him awake. “Hey, idiot! Turn off your alarm before Renjun comes to yell at us again. Seriously, I don’t think my mental stability can take it again,” he whined.

“I’m up, I’m up. Jeez, give me a minute to come to. It’s _too_ early,” Chenle complained, stretching his arms out, completing his so-called wake-up routine with a yawn.

“We wake up at the same time every day, including weekends. We’ve followed this routine for years. It should not be this difficult,” Jisung complained back, having to deter himself from screeching.

The duo had recently entered their fifth year out of seven at Neo Culture Tech Boarding School for Gifted Students (or as the students refer to it NCT bullshit), a name that rolls right off the tongue and yet somehow Chenle still hadn’t gotten a hang of their daily routine.

Jisung would have cut him some slack if they had just come back from school holidays but they hadn’t. It was an ordinary Tuesday in an ordinary March.

After seven and a half more minutes of complaining, Chenle dragged himself out of bed and started to get changed into his school uniform. Jisung sent him a glare, already dressed and scrolling through Twitter on his phone.

“So, what is a soulmate, know-it-all?” Chenle asked again, whilst tying his shoelaces and fully buttoning his blazer (unlike himself, who wore his uniform like he’d slept in it despite being the one that to wakes up on time).

Jisung blushed again. “What?” He spluttered out.

“Y’know, from last night. You said we’d discuss it in the morning so, _Sungie_ , let’s discuss,” Chenle explained.

The truth is Jisung was hoping Chenle would have forgotten by morning because despite being a child prodigy, he wasn’t exactly known for his excellent memory, that was himself.

“I-um. A soulmate is like well, a best friend but more. They’re the person who you wanna spend the rest of your life with, regardless of what happens. They’re that special someone that no one else will ever be able to compete with because to you, they’re perfect. A soulmate is like the part that completes you, no, not complete, fulfill. They fill in the missing parts of you that make you a better you but you’re still you without them if that makes sense?” Jisung awkwardly smiled and quickly glanced downwards, the bottom of his black slacks becoming the most interesting thing.

“Huh, didn’t know you were such an intellectual _Sungie_. I think I pretty much agree with you on that but do you think they actually exist? Like, are soulmates a real thing? Or just an idolised dream created by the media to create more buzz around Valentine’s Day?” Chenle’s smile beamed, his eyes gleamed with something. Jisung wasn’t sure what. It was as if Chenle knew _something_ that he didn’t.

And he was determined to find out what.

“I’m honestly not sure. I’d like to think they exist. They’re a pretty cute concept y’know and it’s nice to think that there’s someone out there for everyone if you get what I mean,” Jisung tried to stop himself from blushing.

“I-“ Chenle was interrupted by a knock on the door. They both glanced at their phones to check the time. “Shit! We’re late - Sicheng is gonna kill us if we’re late for breakfast again, that’s the third time this month.

“Language!” Renjun called through the door.

Jisung yanked it open, “He’s sorry, it won’t happen again,” he apologised, whilst grabbing Chenle’s wrist and dragging them out the door.

“We both know that’s a lie,” Renjun replied, trying to stifle back a grin. He came across as harsh but he would do anything for the youngest duo. After practically raising them for five years, he’d become somewhat attached.

“Sorry, can’t hear you,” the pair called out in sync, dashing down the corridor, only to come face to face with the spiral staircase that led to the main hall they used for meals.

Jisung had grab Chenle’s waist to stop them from tumbling down, regardless they still, wobbling back and forth. And a tad too far and he lost his footing and the pair tripped down the first set before righting themselves and continuing to sprint towards the main hall.

Arriving just as the bell rang out to signal breakfast was soon to be ending. Late but not missed. It was honestly quite an achievement for them, considering their track record.

They made their way over to the buffet table, piling their plates with what little that was left before walking over to their friends’ table.

The table was rectangular in shape and even though it only sat six instead of the needed seven, it had been used by them for five years straight and held potentially sentimental value. Especially as this was Mark’s last year and his times left with the ill-fitting table were numbered.

Renjun had miraculously appeared in his usual seat, sometime between knocking on their door and them rushing down the stairs. Neither was quite sure how he’d accomplished it. Jaemin and Jeno sat on his either side with Mark opposite and Donghyuck in his lap. The duo sat down next to the clingy pair.

Despite the appearance, Mark and Donghyuck were in fact, not a couple. But the table lacked a seat so the seven took it in turns to double up instead of just fetching another chair like the many times Renjun had suggested it. Although, he didn’t look too displeased whenever it was his turn to take the seat of a particular pair of boys’ laps.

The meal went by quickly (as they had very little time to actually eat) and they were soon all dashing back up to their dormitories to grab their notebooks and pens for the day, complete with rushed ‘goodbyes’ and ‘good lucks’, the latter of which aimed at Donghyuck (who had an an important exam at some point the following hours).

 

A note slid across the desk. He looked up to see where it has come from, despite already guessing the obvious. He could see Chenle snickering in the back corner of the classroom and he groaned (read: sighed affectionately) quietly as he accepted that he was going to have to read another bad joke.

‘ _Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon?_ ’ He turned to look at Chenle, mouthing ‘no’, if only to indulge him. Before looking back to the paper and flipping it over to read the punchline.

‘ _Great food. No atmosphere._ ’ And he had to admit he chuckled. Chenle was snorting away in the back so violently, the teacher asked if he wanted to go see the nurse. Needless to say, he quickly shut up.

 

Jisung and Chenle met up in their dorm later that afternoon to attempt their assigned homework. Keyword: _attempt_. Both were incredibly smart but NCT bullshit thrived through pushing their students to their absolute limits. Sometimes they took the ‘gifted students’ thing a bit too far.

The school was comprised entirely of child prodigies of all sorts, although they were particularly known for their creative prodigies. Students who excelled in: art, drama, music, and dance were their speciality.

Chenle was a double prodigy; a science and music prodigy. Understanding quantum physics from the tender age of eight and knowing how to play twenty or so instruments by ten.

Jisung, however, wasn’t an exact prodigy in any particular area but he was ‘gifted’ with an eidetic memory and therefore was knowledgeable in many, many things just through his memory alone. He didn’t always think of it as a gift though, some things he would rather forget.

Their textbooks laid sprawled open across their joint desk and they simultaneously threw their heads back and sighed.

“Mr Moon is an absolute dick!” Chenle exclaimed.

“You could say that again. Understatement of the century!” Jisung added.

“Who does he think we are, fucking child prodigies or something?” Jisung waited for the gears in Chenle’s head to work properly. “Oh-oh my God, I’m so stupid. That’s exactly what we are. Oh my God, I feel so dumb right now.” He sighed in disgrace at himself. Jisung burst out laughing.

“I-just-wow,” he choked out in between howling laughter. “And I thought _you_ were the smart one.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. It wasn’t that funny.”

“Uh, I think it was,” Jisung interjected, holding back more laughter, tears threatening to fall from his crunched eyes.

“Oh, shut your mouth Jisung.” Chenle snapped, not nastily, tinged with a hint of fondness and a shy smile struggling to escape.

“I breathed.” He exhaled to reiterate his point. Drawing it out, nice and slow to really get his point across.

 “Anyway,” Chenle cut him off, “do you think Renjun would help us with this because I’m really struggling.” He placed the pen he had began to twirl between his fingers and picked up his phone to text Renjun.

“What makes you think I haven’t already asked? He’s walking over right now with an answer sheet.” And as if it was planned, a knock could be heard through the door once again.

Jisung opened it, albeit a lot less harshly this time and thanked Renjun profusely.

“Anything for my favourite children,” he smiled warmly.

“We’re not children!” Chenle tried to yell out but Renjun was already out of sight, disappearing around the corner to go back to his own dorm.

Copying answers down hastily, they lost track of time and they faintly heard the dinner bell ringing in the distance.

“Not again. This is it. Sicheng is gonna put our heads on a stick,” Chenle cried out.

“No. He. Won’t. You seem to forget, he adores you, you’re his favourite underclassman.”

“You say that like you’re _not_ Taeyong’s,” he retorted.

“And what about it?” He grabbed Chenle’s wrist again and dragged them through the corridor, opting to take the elevator this time, not wanting to trip down the stairs for the second time that day (and arguably infinite time ever).

 

Upon arriving in the main hall for dinner they were separated by the crowd of students who had suffered similar time management mishaps. They spiralled across the hall in different directions and miraculously ending up in the arms of their makeshift guardian angel; Taeyong for Jisung and Sicheng for Chenle.

“Taeyong, do you believe in soulmates? Jisung inquired, wanting to get another opinion so he could feedback to Chenle when he inevitably brought the subject up again.

“Um, yeah, I think I do. Or at least I just like the idea of having someone else be an absolutely perfect match for you. Anyway, why’d you ask?”

“Chenle.”

“Wanna elaborate on that?” Taeyong shot him an understanding smile.

“I don’t know. We were up late last night and he started asking about soulmates and I got all blushy and I just feel like he knows something that he’s not letting on about,” he began to ramble, continuing on for several minutes about Chenle before Taeyong cut him off.

“Right, do you think he knows about your massive crush on him? Or something else?” Taeyong smirked.

“Both? Wait, what? I don’t like Chenle. Well, yeah, obviously I like him but only as a friend. I don’t see him like that, we’ve been friends for like five years, I would never wanna ruin that. Not that I ever would because I don’t like him. It’s completely normal to blush when your best friend talks to you about soulmates, that’s like friendship 101. And it’s normal to admire them in every way possible and to think about them all the time and want to spend every possible waking moment with them and and I-oh my God! I like Chenle.” Jisung let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I’ve got to go, thanks for the help Taeyong.”

“You’re welcome? It’s not even like I said anything, you came to that conclusion yourself,” he’d murmured that last part to himself but it didn’t even matter because Jisung was long gone out of earshot, attempting to race back up to the dorms before Chenle could.

(Unbeknown to him, Chenle had just had a very similar conversation with Sicheng, just a couple tables over).

 

“What am I going to do? Do I tell him?” He muttered to himself but before he could get out another word Chenle burst through the dorm door. A look of shock adorned his face.

“I think we need to talk.” Chenle almost whispered at the same time that Jisung said:

“I think I need to tell you something.”

They agreed to say their pieces on the count of three, just to see if they were the same, although unknown to each other they both doubted that they were.

“One. Two. Three. I like you.” The look of utter surprise on both their faces was borderline priceless.

“I think we need to do some more talking…” Jisung trailed off.

 

Later that night, in the early hours of the morning, he brought their lips together gently, cautiously, like it was their last time instead of their first.

Soft hands caressed soft skin as he slowly pulled his lips away and moved his hands to cup Chenle’s face.

“What is a soulmate, _Sungie_?” Chenle asked once more, beaming so brightly Jisung couldn’t help but think he could rival the sun itself.

“It’s you.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! this is kinda short but i went with the idea and rolled with it along i have some more ideas for this universe that i didn't get to expand on in this fic (like chenle knows soulmates exist and him asking jisung about his thoughts was his way of flirting) so maybe i'll write a sequel of sorts. 
> 
> kudos and comments make my day <3
> 
> u can also follow me on twitter @halfseok if you'd like


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